Systems and methods for location assistance with personal area network devices

• US 10,698,117 B2
• Filed: 12/16/2016
• Issued: 06/30/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 10/10/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Asrani, Vijay L., Russell, Michael E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Phan, Dao L
• Application Number:
  US15/382,316
• Publication Number:
  US 20170160397A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,292 Days
• Field of Search: 34235764
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/06 employing an initial estimate of the location of the receiver as aiding data or in generating aiding data
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/252 Employing an initial estimate of location in generating assistance data
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0027 of actual mobile position, i.e. position determined on mobile
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0072 Transmission between mobile stations, e.g. anti-collision systems

Abstract

Implementations relate to systems and methods for location assistance using devices (104) in a personal area network (PAN). In one scenario, a user may use two separate location-enabled devices, such as a wearable personal device (102) and a cellular telephone device (104). In cases, one of those devices may have reached a higher or farther-developed state in terms of generating or storing location information (108) for the user'"'"'s current position, as compared to the opposite device. This can take place, for instance, when the first (e.g. wearable) device (102) is first turned on. The two devices use platforms and techniques to exchange location information and carry out GPS or other operations to furnish the device that is lagging in position processing progress with assistance which will speed up or otherwise enhance the position fix for that device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

initiating, by a wearable device, a positioning process for determining a location of the wearable device, wherein the wearable device is connected to another device via a personal area network connection;

determining, by the wearable device, an initial location of the wearable device;

sending, by the wearable device, to the other device, and using the personal area network connection, a request for location information;

receiving, by the wearable device and from the other device, the location information; and

generating, by the wearable device and based in part on the location information received from the other device and the initial location, position information for the wearable device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the initial location of the wearable device comprises determining the initial location using at least one of a global navigation satellite system-based process, an assisted global navigation satellite system-based process, a radio triangulation-based process, a cellular-network based process, or a process based on a detected location of a wireless access point used by the first device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the request for location information includes a request for at least one of time data from the other device, ephemeris data from the other device, or position data from the other device.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the ephemeris data comprises estimated ephemeris data.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the ephemeris data comprises broadcast ephemeris data.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the position data comprises estimated position data.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the estimated position data comprises position data estimated by at least one of cellular base station trilateration, wireless local area network access point trilateration, or global navigation satellite system trilateration.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein initiating the positioning process is in response to initiating one of a start-up process of the wearable device or a wake-up process of the wearable device.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the other device comprises one of a cellular telephone having a global navigation satellite system module, a navigation device having a global navigation satellite system module, or a computing device having a global navigation satellite system module.

10. A wearable device, comprising:

a global navigation satellite system module; and

a processor communicatively coupled to the global positioning system module, the processor being configured to;

initiate a positioning process for determining a location of the wearable device, wherein the wearable device is connected to another device via a personal area network connection;

determine, using the global navigation satellite system module, an initial location of the wearable device;

send, to another device and using the personal area network connection, a request for location information;

receive, from the other device, the location information; and

generate, based in part on the location information received from the other device and the initial location, position information for the wearable device.

11. The wearable device of claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to:

determine the initial location of the wearable device using at least one of a global navigation satellite system-based process, an assisted global navigation satellite system-based process, a radio triangulation-based process, a cellular-network based process, or a process based on a detected location of a wireless access point used by the first device.

12. The wearable device of claim 10, wherein the request for location information includes a request for at least one of time data from the other device, ephemeris data from the other device, or position data from the other device.

13. The wearable device of claim 12, wherein the ephemeris data comprises estimated ephemeris data.

14. The wearable device of claim 12, wherein the ephemeris data comprises broadcast ephemeris data.

15. The wearable device of claim 12, wherein the position data comprises estimated position data.

16. The wearable device of claim 15, wherein the estimated position data comprises position data estimated by at least one of cellular base station trilateration, wireless local area network access point trilateration, or global navigation satellite system trilateration.

17. The wearable device of claim 10, wherein the processor is configured to initiate the positioning process by at least being configured to initiate the positioning process in response to initiating one of a start-up process of the wearable device or a wake-up process of the wearable device.

18. The wearable device of claim 10, wherein the global navigation satellite system module comprises at least one of a global positioning system module, a global navigation satellite system module, a Galileo module, or a Beidou module.

19. The wearable device of claim 10, wherein the other device comprises one of a cellular telephone having a global navigation satellite system module, a navigation device having a global navigation satellite system module, or a computing device having a global navigation satellite system module.